In Between
by PBJay
Summary: What happened in between the time Asami's father passes and the wedding? We never get to see poor Asami's reaction or how she deals with it.


May be stopping the other story because I ran out of ideas. I'm bored and wanted to do something to distract myself from my math homework and the essay that is inevitably due.

* * *

The sickening sound of a crunch fills Asami's ears as she floats down to the ground. No screams were heard, thank the spirits, but oh god _that crunch_. After her father had finally drilled the hole at the cost of his life and the rest of Team Avatar began to take down the monstrous woman who killed their way in, the plan began to unfurl.

Just like her body, Asami's head hangs down, her hair limp and sticky with sweat. No tears have fallen yet. There is no sadness. There is only numbness. There is only defeat.

From an explosion inside the suit destroying the home of all fighting, a piece of debris is flung out and toward Asami, thankfully missing her lifeless form. Unfortunately, this debris rips a hole through the defeated girl's parachute, the fabric no longer functioning as a gentle rescuer. The parachute folds up on the girl, sending her plummeting to the debris-littered ground.

Asami lands on the concrete of the roads she had built with a grunt of pain. She feels her head connect with something hard and sharp – probably a rock. Blood begins to mat her now tangled locks to the back of her head. Nothing is broken, thankfully, but bloody scrapes and bruises litter her body.

The engineer lays there, the smoke from the battle floating just above her. Buildings are smashed and on fire around her. Unlike her surroundings, Asami's gorgeous eyes are full of nothing - no fire, no crushed emotions. Her mouth is straightened into a thin line.

She does not move until she hears the voice of her dear friend and then the dreadful sound of whatever kind of super weapon was attached to the giant suit. Asami hoists herself off of the ground, holding her elbow to her chest as she begins to limp to the battlefield. By the time she manages to hobble over, she sees everybody crowded around a beam of light. Everybody waits anxiously for the moment when Korra finally emerges with Kuvira draped around her shoulders. The atmosphere around the crater within the heart of the city becomes peaceful with relief of this ordeal finally being over. Everybody exchanges embraces.

Not long after the end of the long battle, Su Yin and her sons set up stations along with Kya to heal the injured. The waterbending master sits on makeshift cots beside her current patients. As Kya does her best to lessen the damage to Mako's burnt arm, her beautiful eyes flicker up to the non-bending girl she hasn't seen since the beginning of the clash.

"Asami," her rough yet gentle voice calls, cutting through the silence. The girl in question seemed to have been staring, probably locked in her own head before Kya called to her. "Let me work on you next, alright?"

Asami's eyes bounce back into focus at the sound of the waterbender's voice. "No, I'm fine," she replies, doing her absolute best to put a believable smile on her face. She walks away without a trace of a limp.

It takes about a half hour, but Asami finally manages to take herself home. Her mansion is undamaged and just as she had left it the day before. She pulls the spare key out from behind a potted plant by the door and flings it open, stumbling quickly now into her home. She doesn't have time to make it to her restroom before she empties the almost nonexistent contents of her stomach onto the floor. Her scraped knees burn as pressure is applied to them from the heaving of their owner. Frantically, she pushes herself back up and stumbles down the hall into her office, slamming the door shut with whatever kind of strength she can muster.

Days pass with the city finally repopulated. Pema had lead all of the citizens back, and everybody is helping clean up their sections of town. Korra wakes around noon, stretching her achy body from a good night's rest. Her mouth opens in a huge yawn before she scratches her back and walks out of the room in a sleepy daze. The scent of breakfast fills her nose as the kitchen comes into view.

"Mmmm, Pema," the Avatar sniffs. "That smells delicious. Any chance I could have some?"

Pema's motherly laugh echoes throughout the small kitchen. "I suppose I could spare you just a little bit," she jokes.

The airbending family sits down to a morning meal as soon as the non-bending mother finishes preparing it, everybody incredibly grateful to finally be at peace for once.

"Korra!" Jinora pipes up in the middle of typical breakfast table conversations. "How are you friends doing? I can imagine Mako must be in pain," she continues.

Korra, with a mouthful of noodles, nods and swallows. "He's pretty good, just taking it easy, you know?"

"What about Asami?" Pema chimes in, overhearing the small sub-conversation. "I can only imagine how the poor girl must be feeling." The mother's eyes narrow in sadness as she recalls the story of the battle her husband had recalled to her after the entire ordeal was over.

"Hm," Korra muses. Her scraped hands place the bowl down at the table. "I have to go," she announces. "I'll be back later."

Wihout another word, the Avatar runs out of the airbenders' home and jumps into the air on her glider and toward Asami's home. Why had she forgotten about Asami? In the back of her mind, the girl had been in Korra's thoughts, but she had wanted to give her friend some time to herself.

"Asami's a big girl, and besides, we don't see each other on a regular basis, so it's not…unusual," she says to herself in the air. She lands in a sweep of wind at the front door of her friend. Before she even has a chance to knock, the funny butler that had served Bolin the first time Asami had ever invited Korra over opens the door.

"Avatar Korra, thank spirits you're here," he says worriedly. "Please, come this way." He turns his body around and swiftly leads the Avatar down the hall. With blue eyes narrowed in confusion, Korra follows and ends up at closed double doors. She points to the door.

"That's Asami's office, right?"

The butler nods. "She hasn't been out in days. I heard her arrive home three days ago, and she has not been out or has not made a sound since."

Korra pounds her fist onto the door without hesitation. "Asami, open up." Her voice is stern and full of worry. She turns back to the butler. "Whatever is wrong with her, I'm sure she won't want a lot of people knowing her business, so maybe you could go make a nice cup of tea for her or something?"

The butler nods once more and walks down the hall to the kitchen to follow Avatar Korra's instructions.

The darker girl pounds on the door once more, equally as hard as the previous knock. "Asami, I'm not kidding. Open up, or I'll-…"

Korra's threat is cut off as she hears the slightest sound from inside. Without trying to decipher the sound, Korra's foot blasts a wall of air into the doors, flinging them open successfully. Papers that litter the floor are send flying in all directions. Through the rainstorm of paper, Korra can see Asami sitting at her desk, her head in her arm that is propped up on her desk. The only light that is on is her desk lamp, illuminating only the pale girl's face. Her eyes are tightly shut as if she's either confused, frustrated, or in pain.

"Asami," Korra starts, walking toward the desk. "Where have you been? We've all been worried sick."

She's prepared to yell at Asami until the girl in trouble opens her beautiful green eyes to look up at her visitor. The nonbender's normally vibrant and happy eyes are full of nothing. They are void of any kind of happiness. Her normally pale skin is now paper white. Dark grey rims line her eyes, and scratches cover her fingers.

Korra's own eyes widen and she rushes to the girl's side, getting down on one knee to asses Asami like she's a child who had gotten hurt on the playground.

"Asami, what's happening?" she asks, completely serious and worried beyond belief.

"I just…," Asami begins, her voice rough and making her sound like she's confused. "I just wanted to work. Takes my mind off of things, you know?" Her voice slurs with every word. Her eyes flicker to the papers cluttering her desk. "Been working on a new defensive weapon."

She points to a drawing for Korra to see. All that the Avatar sees is a bunch of scribbles and illegible handwriting. Her gaze immediately turns back to her friend in the seat.

"I think you're hurt," Korra begins, her hands searching Asami's body for injuries.

"Korra," Asami's annoyed voice interjects. "My heat hurts. My father's dead, did you know?"

Korra's face falters for a moment. "I know, Sami. I should have come right after. I'm sorry I didn't come right away. We couldn't find you, and I just assumed you needed to deal with it yourself first, but I want you to know that I wanted to come."

The nonbender's eyes close, her face scrunching up in pain. "My head has an injury."

The tan, calloused hands that are caressing around all of the scrapes and bruises of the other girl's arms and legs immediately move to the back of her head. Raven locks once so beautiful are matted by the blood that has been left to dry for over three days.

"I see that, Sami. I think you need a shower," Korra suggests. She ushers her friend to stand up with her, the other girl wobbling a little as she gets out of the chair for the first time in a few days. "Or a bath."

Korra's strong arms hoist her best friend up into a bridal position to carry her to the bathroom. She turns the water on in the heiress' large bath tub, holding her hand under the water to gage the temperature. Once the bath is drawn and it's steaming up the room with warmth, Korra helps the girl stand and rid herself of her bloody, torn clothing. She lowers her friend into the water.

"I need you to lay your head back. Can you do that for me?"

Asami mumbles a quiet "mhm" as her eyes close in the bliss of the warm embrace of the bathwater. She leans the back of her head into the water to dip the dried blood away. The red tints the water pink a little. She hisses a little in pain.

"Sorry, Sami. Gotta get that checked out," Korra apologizes, lifting up the girl's gorgeous hair. Thankfully, the cut Korra observes is nothing serious. Some rest and maybe some pain medicine will do the trick, Dr. Korra confirms with a nod to herself. "Do you want me to leave? I can leave if you'd rather be alone."

Asami mumbles something that sounds like a "no" to Korra. The bender kneels at the edge of the tub, her head in her folded arms along the rim to watch the bathing beauty. A calloused hand reaches out to caress a scratch on porcelain skin.

"You okay?" Korra asks.

Asami opens her eyes and looks away with a deep breath. One would have to be very observant to see her lips begin to tremble a little bit. "He didn't listen to me," she says with anger in her wavering voice. "I told him not to, but he did it anyway. It figures. He never listened."

A tear of frustration rolls down her cheek, stinging the scrape with its salty contents.

"I can't tell you what you want to hear, Asami," Korra chimes in, her head still resting in her folded arms. "You know, you're kind of like your father. You both do what you want to do. I can't stop you when you have your head stuck in your butt and want to do something," she continues with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. "Just like I don't think anybody was able to stop you from coming here and staying locked up for a few days."

She grasps Asami's chin delicately, turning her head to meet her blue eyes. "He did it for you, Asami. You would have died alongside him. He knew the risks, and he knew you needed to continue on without him. Your father did nothing wrong, and you need to accept that."

Asami's lips begin to quiver again, her eyes avoiding Korra's. Korra stands up, finding a towel for Asami and placing it on the floor for her. "I'll leave you to wash yourself, and I'll be out there whenever you're done, I promise."

Korra leaves and shuts the door, sliding down the wall beside it to wait on her Asami. Back inside the bathroom, Asami contemplates Korra's words while washing her hair delicately. She cleans herself slowly and finally picks herself up with a grunt to dry herself off. She's just about to call to Korra to fetch a pair of pajamas, but Asami's favourite pink sleepwear is sitting folded on the floor next to the towel. She smiles a little before dressing and exiting the bathroom.

She's surprised to see Korra sitting beside the door. The Avatar jumps to her feet when Asami exits. She loops her arm through pajama clad Asami's arm and leads her to her bedroom.

"You're going to need your rest, okay?" Korra asks. "You know, nevermind. You don't get a say." Without hesitation, Korra lifts her dear friend up and places her gently under the covers of her bed. Using airbending, Korra flips herself over to the other side of the bed outside of the covers.

"I could use a nap too," she says with her crooked grin.

Asami scoffs playfully. "Oh, please. I bet you just got up."

Korra rolls her eyes and turns on her side, wrapping her arms around the taller girl. "Just shut up and get some sleep," she orders. The water tribe girl begins to play with the now clean locks of hair. She kisses the back of Asami's head close to where the cut resides.

"You know, Verrick's wedding is in a few days. Help me pick out a dress to wear?" she asks.

Asami looks up to Korra from her place in her arms and nods. She turns her acing body to face Korra's chest and wrap her own arms around the smaller girl's waist. "Yeah, I can do that." Emerald eyes begin to struggle to keep themselves open for the first time in days.

"Good," Korra replies, giving one more kiss to the girl's head for good measure.

"Mmhm," Asami replies, drifting off into sleep.

* * *

Okay, sorry for that. I just had the idea to write what happened in between the tragic moment of my baby's dad's death and the wedding. I really hope they at least talked to her and comforted her, my poor baby. Thanks for reading!


End file.
